Tilt wheel chain drive

ABSTRACT

An endless chain drive is provided between a driven sprocket wheel rotatable in a generally vertical plane and a driver sprocket wheel rotatable in a plane tilted from the vertical, wherein drive transmission is achieved from the tilted driver to the upright driven wheel with the cooperation of an idler wheel without dislocation of the chain.

[ 51 Oct. 10, 1972 United States Patent Fetter et al.

[541 TILT WHEEL CHAIN DRIVE Hill............... ................74/13.74/13 X Hollyday...... ..74/242 11 R X 3,464,282 9/1969 Grobowski [72]lnventors: John T. Fetter, Carlisle, Ontario; 2692506 10,1954

I Nils Olson, Ancaster Ontario 2,736,015 2/1956 Gilvarryetal bothofcanada ,216,703 11/1965 Walker..... 3,402,617 9/1968 Fox..............[73] Assignee: International Harvester Company, 3,483,688 12/1969Chicago, 111.

Primary Examiner-Arthur T. McKeon Attorney-Noel G. Artman [22] Filed:Nov. 25, 1970 7] ABSTRACT An endless chain drive is provided between adriven sprocket wheel rotatable in a generally vertical plane [21] Appl.No.: 92,628

.74/13, 74/242Ll1 R .Fl6h 7/12, B60k 17/28 .74/242.11 R, 13; 180/53 [58]new 0 searchnwmu and a driver sprocket wheel rotatable 1n a plane tiltedfrom the vertical, wherein drive transmission is References Cited UNITEDSTATES PATENTS achieved from the tilted driver to the upright drivenwheel with the cooperation of an idler wheel without dislocation of thechain.

4 Drawing Figures 7 Claims,

3,054,299 9/1962 Procterv...............74/242.ll R

PATENTEDHBT 10 I912 3 696; 681

INVENTORSY JOHN r FETTER NlLS o. OLSSON TILT WHEEL CHAIN DRIVEBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to agriculturalimplements and particularly to an implementhaving driven parts and aground wheel drive therefor.

In an implement such as a grain drill, an elongated seed hopperextending transversely of the direction of travel is provided withdrivenmechanism for metering seed and the like from the hopper and dischargingit uniformly to the ground. Such an implement has a rotatable feed shaftextending lengthwise of the hopper and a plurality of metering devicesto receive measured amounts of material from the hopper and rotatablewith the driven shaft to discharge the material to the ground. Theimplement is supported at its ends by wheels, and sprocket wheelsmounted on the wheel shafts are connected by drive chains to sprocketwheels mounted at the ends of thefeed shaft means.

' Customarily, the implement supporting wheels travel on relativelylevel ground and are normally disposed in verticalplanes. Also, in graindrills and the like the spacing between the wheels at the ends of theseed hopper conforms to the design and width of the hopper selected forthe area to be planted. However, with recent advances in irrigation andconservation practices in many areas the terrain is graded to provide agentle slope, and is trenched to form relatively widely spaced and highbeds. Water for irrigation is fed in at the high end of the slope andallowed to follow the trenches. The normal spacing between the verticalwheels of conventional drills is such that the wheels ride on thesidesof the beds, causing the beds to break down and fill the trench,stopping the flow of irrigation water. To prevent this the wheels mustride in the nadir of the trenches or beds.

To solve this problem the present invention has for one of its objectsthe provision of an implement such as a grain drill wherein the drivewheels at the end of the machine are tilted outwardly from the verticalto decrease the spacing between the lower ground engaging portions ofthe wheels to cause the latter to contact the bottoms of the beds.

It .is well known that positive and efficient drive transmission isachieved with sprocket wheels and chains where the axes of rotation ofthe driving and driven sprocket wheels are parallel and the wheels arein alignment and revolve in a common plane. It is also well known thatmisalignment of one sprocket wheel with respect to the other can causedislodgement of the chain from the sprocket wheels. Special chains havebeen developed to transmit drive between non-aligned sprockets, however,these chains are not reliable under some conditions. Chains of this typeare disclosed in the patents to Klaucke U.S. Pat. No. 2,277,915 andTenety U.S. Pat. No. 2,455,624.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Through the subject invention drive can betransmitted between angularly spaced sprocket without dislodgement ofthe chain. This invention is useful in extreme situations wherein theuse of chains of the type disclosed in the above mentioned Klaucke andTenety patents do not function satisfactorily. An idler wheel is mountedto lie within the plane of the driven sprocket wheel and such that itengages the loose reach of the chain at a point close to the tight reachof the chain. A chain of the type having some clearance between thelinks and the rollers is used to permit twist in the chain.

Tension in the chain can be varied by adjusting the idler wheel towardor away from the driven sprocket and keeping its chain engagingperiphery in close proximity to the tight reach of the chain. An objectof the subject invention is to provide a chain drive between sprocketsspaced relatively close to each other and arranged at an extreme angleto each other.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Theimplement shown in FIG. 1 is a grain drill having a transverselyelongated hopper 10 and driven dispensing means therein of a well knowntype for discharging material such as seed and fertilizer from outletsin the hopper to furrows formed by a plurality of furrow openers ll.Hopper 10 is supported by wheels 12, one at each end of the hopper, thewheels being tilted so that their lower inwardly directed peripheriesengage the ground at the bottom of irrigation trenches 13 formed betweenplanting beds 14.

Each wheel 12 is mounted on an outwardly and downwardly inclined axle 15to which is also secured a driver sprocket wheel 16 having teeth 17 andaround which is trained an endless drive chain 18, having relativelywidely spaced links 19, and which is also trained around a verticallydisposed sprocket wheel 20 having teeth 21 and secured to the end of ahorizontal feed shaft 22,'which extends lengthwise of the hopper.

It may be noted that the area at the end of a grain drill or the like issmall and that the driver and driven sprocket wheels 16 and 20 arenecessarily relatively closely spaced. Thus, it should be clear that,were sprocket wheels 16 and 20 connected in a conventional manner bychain 18 the misalignment between the wheels would force the chain tobecome dislocated and to run off either the driver or the driven wheel.For example, were the chain 18 to be run between the driving and drivensprocket wheels 16 and 20 without the intervention of an idler wheel,the extent of misalignment would be as indicated at C in FIG. 3. Thefunction of a conventionally placed idler wheel is merely to engage thechain and deflect it sufficiently to tighten it, or take out the slack,and the misalignment might be as indicated at B in FIG. 3, and in eithercase the chain would run off either the driver or the driven sprocket.This problem is solved in the following manner:

As will be clear from FIG. 3, the lower peripheral portion of sprocketwheel 16 is disposed in alignment in a common plane with wheel 20.Driving sprocket wheel 16 is tilted outwardly approximately from thisvertical plane, as indicated in FIG. 3, and revolves in the direction ofthe arrow in FIG. 2. In order to avoid dislocation of the drive chainand to transmit positive and uninterrupted drive from sprocket wheel 16to sprocket wheel 20, an idler wheel 23 having teeth 24 is mounted on astub shaft 25 on the end of the hopper between sprocket wheels 16 and20.

Chain 18 is relatively long and idler shaft 25 is mounted on the hopperbelow a center line between axle 15 and feed shaft 22, as indicated inFIG. 2, the idler engaging upper reach 26 of the drive chain andsubstantially deflecting it toward lower reach 27. As will be observedfrom FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, the idler is closely adjacent the lower reach ortight side 27 of the chain and the driven sprocket wheel 20, and in FIG.3 it will be noted that idler 23 is in longitudinal alignment with andin the same vertical plane as sprocket wheel and the lower peripheralportion of driver sprocket wheel 16.

It has been discovered that with the idler 23 arranged as shown in thedrawings, misalignment in the slack strand of the chain is minimized,the degree of misalignment being indicated at A in FIG. 3. The lowerreach 27 of the drive chain travels in a straight line between sprocketwheel 20 and the lower periphery of driver sprocket wheel 16, and withthe latter revolving in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 2, the upperreach 26 of the chain travels with a minimum lateral deflectionindicated in FIG. 3, from the upper periphery of wheel 20 to idler 23,transmitting positive and uninterrupted drive between the driving anddriven sprocket wheels.

As indicated in FIG. 4 tension in chain 18 can be varied by adjustingidler wheel 23 along a mounting slot 30 formed in the hopper wall. Slot30 lies parallel to the lower reach 27 of the chain to thus maintain thespacing between the low point of the upper reach 26 and the lower reach27.

What is claimed is:

1. Means for transmitting drive to one sprocket wheel from anothersprocket wheel rotatable in a plane tilted from the plane of rotation ofsaid one sprocket wheel comprising, an endless chain extending betweenand trained around said wheels, an idler wheel disposed between saidsprocket wheels and engageable with one reach of the chain between saidsprocket wheels and having its chain-engaging periphery disposed closelyadjacent the other reach of said chain between said sprocket wheels andwherein one peripheral portion of said another sprocket wheel is inalignment with the plane of said one sprocket wheel and said idler wheelis a relatively small sprocket wheel rotatable in the plane of and inalignment with said one sprocket wheel.

2. The invention set forth in claim 1, wherein the axis of said idlerwheel is disposed between the axis of said one sprocket wheel and saidother reach of said chain between said sprocket wheels.

3. In a mobile implement having a horizontal driven shaft and spacedsupporting wheels at least one of which is tilted from a vertical plane,a driven sprocket wheel mounted on said shaft and rotatable in avertical plane, a driver sprocket wheel mounted on said tiltedsupporting wheel in misaligned relation to said driven sprocket wheel,an endless drive chain trained around said sprocket wheels, and meansmounted on the implement between said sprocket wheels and operativelyengageable with said chain for maintaining the driving relation betweensaid chain and said sprocket wheels unimpaired.

4. The invention set forth in claim 3, wherein one peripheral portion ofsaid driver sprocket wheel is in longitudinal alignment with thevertical plane of said driven sprocket wheel.

5. The invention set forth in claim 4, wherein the first reach of saidchain extending between said one peripheral portion of said driversprocket wheel and said driven sprocket wheel is maintained taut by thedriving action and wherein said means engageable with said chain is anidler sprocket wheel engagable with the other reach of said chain todeflect the latter to a position closely adjacent said first reach ofsaid chain.

6. In a mobile implement having a shaft, a driven sprocket wheel mountedon the shaft for rotation in a vertical plane, a driver sprocket wheellongitudinally spaced from the driven sprocket wheel for rotation in aplane tilted from the vertical and having a lower peripheral portiondisposed in the plane of said driven sprocket wheel, an endless chaintrained around and having a lower reach extending between the lowerperipheral portions of said sprocket wheels and an angled upper reachextending between the upper peripheral portions of said sprocket wheels,and an idler wheel mounted on the implement in the vertical plane ofsaid driven sprocket wheel and engageable with the upper reach of saidchain and having its lower peripheral portion closely adjacent saidlower reach of said chain.

7. The invention set forth in claim 6, wherein the implement issupported by a ground engaging wheel mounted on an axle angleddownwardly from the horizontal and said driver sprocket wheel is mountedon said axle and driven by said ground engaging wheel.

1. Means for transmitting drive to one sprocket wheel from anothersprocket wheel rotatable in a plane tilted from the plane of rotation ofsaid one sprocket wheel comprising, an endless chain extending betweenand trained around said wheels, an idler wheel disposed between saidsprocket wheels and engageable with one reach of the chain between saidsprocket wheels and having its chain-engaging periphery disposed closelyadjacent the other reach of said chain between said sprocket wheels andwherein one peripheral portion of said another sprocket wheel is inalignment with the plane of said one sprocket wheel and said idler wheelis a relatively small sprocket wheel rotatable in the plane of and inalignment with said one sprocket wheel.
 2. The invention set forth inclaim 1, wherein the axis of said idler wheel is disposed between theaxis of said one sprocket wheel and said other reach of said chainbetween said sprocket wheels.
 3. In a mobile implement having ahorizontal driven shaft and spaced supporting wheels at least one ofwhich is tilted from a vertical plane, a driven sprocket wheel mountedon said shaft and rotatable in a vertical plane, a driver sprocket wheelmounted on said tilted supporting wheel in misaligned relation to saiddriven sprocket wheel, an endless drive chain trained around saidsprocket wheels, and means mounted on the implement between saidsprocket wheels and operatively engageable with said chain formaintaining the driving relation between said chain and said sprocketwheels unimpaired.
 4. The invention set forth in claim 3, wherein oneperipheral portion of said driver sprocket wheel is in longitudinalalignment with the vertical plane of said driven sprocket wheel.
 5. Theinvention set forth in claim 4, wherein the first reach of said chainextending between said one peripheral portion of said driver sprocketwheel and said driven sprocket wheel is maintained taut by the drivingaction and wherein said means engageable with said chain is an idlersprocket wheel engagable with the other reach of said chain to deflectthe latter to a position closely adjacent said first reach of saidchain.
 6. In a mobile implement having a shaft, a driven sprocket wheelmounted on the shaft for rotation in a vertical plane, a driver sprocketwheel longitudinally spaced from the driven sprocket wheel for rotationin a plane tilted from the vertical and having a lower peripheraLportion disposed in the plane of said driven sprocket wheel, an endlesschain trained around and having a lower reach extending between thelower peripheral portions of said sprocket wheels and an angled upperreach extending between the upper peripheral portions of said sprocketwheels, and an idler wheel mounted on the implement in the verticalplane of said driven sprocket wheel and engageable with the upper reachof said chain and having its lower peripheral portion closely adjacentsaid lower reach of said chain.
 7. The invention set forth in claim 6,wherein the implement is supported by a ground engaging wheel mounted onan axle angled downwardly from the horizontal and said driver sprocketwheel is mounted on said axle and driven by said ground engaging wheel.